NerdNews

OpenAI has removed certain content warnings from its ChatGPT platform, allowing users to interact with the chatbot more freely. The change aims to reduce 'gratuitous/unexplainable denials' and provide more open discussions, while still complying with laws and avoiding harm. This move may be in response to political pressure and accusations of censorship.

Elon Musk's consortium has offered $97.4 billion to buy OpenAI, with a deadline of May 10, 2025. The offer includes an all-cash transaction and requires full access to OpenAI's books and personnel. However, OpenAI's CEO has dismissed the proposal, and the company's board hasn't formally rejected the offer yet. Musk's team says the offer is serious, but OpenAI argues it's an attempt to undermine a competitor.

Alibaba has confirmed a partnership with Apple to bring AI features to iPhones in China. The deal aims to help Apple regain market share in China, where iPhone sales have dropped 11% year-over-year. The partnership will utilize Alibaba's AI technology to power Apple's iPhones in the Chinese market.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced a roadmap for GPT-5, with GPT-4.5 arriving in weeks and GPT-5 melding conventional LLMs and reasoning models. GPT-5 will integrate features from various models, including o3, and simplify the company's product offerings. The free tier of ChatGPT will have unlimited access to GPT-5 at standard intelligence, while ChatGPT Plus and Pro subscribers will have access to higher levels of intelligence.

Apple will use Alibaba's generative AI to power artificial intelligence features for iPhones in China. Alibaba's Chairman, Joe Tsai, confirmed the partnership, which aims to bring Apple Intelligence features to the Chinese market. The features are currently not accessible in China due to strict regulations surrounding AI.

Anima Anandkumar, a professor at California Institute of Technology, is using AI to help solve the world’s challenges faster. She has used neural operators, a type of AI framework, to speed up prediction models for extreme weather and work on sustainable nuclear fusion simulations. Her work has led to the development of FourCastNet, an AI-based high-resolution weather model that is tens of thousands of times faster than traditional weather models.

Microsoft has added 389 megawatts of renewable power to its portfolio to meet the power demands required for its AI ambitions. The company has contracted nearly 20 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity and is buying a mix of electricity and renewable energy credits to cover demand elsewhere.

QuEra, a Boston-based quantum computing startup, has raised $230 million in a convertible note led by Google. The company plans to use the funding to build a 'useful' fully quantum computer in the next three to five years. QuEra is working on a neutral atom quantum supercomputer, which relies on using lasers to cool atoms in the computing process to reduce errors. The company has already generated revenue through the sale of a quantum computer to Japan and offers cloud services on AWS.

Arm, a public semiconductor company, will start making its own chips this year with Meta as a customer. The chip is expected to be a CPU for servers in large data centers and can be customized for various customers. This is a notable change in strategy for Arm, which usually licenses its chip blueprints to companies like Apple and Nvidia.

Apptronik, a University of Texas spinout, has raised $350 million in Series A funding to build humanoid robots. The company is partnering with Google's DeepMind division to deliver embodied AI for bipedal robots. Apptronik plans to use the funding to scale its production and commercialize its humanoid robots, with a focus on industrial applications.

A group of 14 publishers, including Condé Nast and Forbes, have filed a lawsuit against Cohere, alleging that the AI startup has engaged in 'massive, systematic' copyright infringement by using their content to train its AI models without permission. Cohere denies the allegations, stating that it prioritizes controls to mitigate IP infringement and respects the rights of holders.

Italian spyware maker SIO has been caught distributing malicious Android apps that steal private data from targets. The apps, which masquerade as popular apps like WhatsApp, can steal text messages, contacts, and record phone calls. The spyware, called Spyrtacus, has been found to be distributed through fake websites and apps, and has been linked to SIO through command-and-control servers and code references.

China's Salt Typhoon spy crew has exploited vulnerabilities in Cisco devices to compromise at least seven devices linked to global telecom providers. The intrusions happened between December 2024 and January 2025, with the crew attempting to exploit over 1,000 internet-facing Cisco-made boxes. The affected organizations include a US internet service and telecommunications provider, a UK-based telecom provider, an Italian ISP, and others. The crew used two critical privilege escalation vulnerabilities in Cisco's tech: CVE-2023-20198 and CVE-2023-20273.

The Chinese hacker group Salt Typhoon has continued to breach telecom networks worldwide, including in the US, by exploiting vulnerabilities in Cisco routers. Despite high-profile exposure and sanctions, the group remains active, targeting telecoms and universities globally. They use the exploited routers to gain access to sensitive information and maintain control over the networks.

Security researchers discovered a 'whoAMI' attack that allows hackers to gain code execution within AWS accounts by exploiting how software projects retrieve Amazon Machine Image (AMI) IDs. The attack is possible due to misconfigured AMI selection in AWS environments and can be carried out by publishing a malicious AMI with a name similar to a trusted one.

Tofu, an AI-driven B2B marketing platform, brings all marketing campaigns into one space, integrating with existing workflows and tools like HubSpot and Salesforce, and uses AI to personalize marketing content for different customer types. The company has seen strong demand, boasting 12x revenue growth, and is announcing a $12 million Series A round.

Avride has launched its sidewalk delivery bots on Uber Eats in Jersey City, allowing customers to receive their orders via autonomous vehicles. The bots can operate in snow and moderate precipitation, and customers can track their location through the Uber Eats app. This partnership expands Avride's relationship with Uber, which has also partnered with other companies for autonomous deliveries.

A Chinese government-backed espionage group has been identified as potentially moonlighting as a ransomware player, using a custom version of the PlugX backdoor to extort victims. The group, known as Fireant or Mustang Panda, has been linked to multiple incidents, including a recent attack on a software company in South Asia. The attackers compromised a critical Palo Alto Networks authentication bypass flaw and used it to access sensitive information before demanding a $2 million ransom.

North Korea's Lazarus Group has launched a supply chain attack targeting cryptocurrency developers via the NPM registry. The Marstech1 implant hides in GitHub repositories and NPM packages, evading detection with layered obfuscation techniques. The attack aims to steal cryptocurrency wallet data and has already affected 233 victims.

A Florida data broker, Datastream Group, was found to be selling sensitive location data of US military personnel overseas. The data was allegedly obtained from a Lithuanian ad-tech company, Eskimi, which denies involvement. The incident highlights the opaque nature of the location data industry and raises concerns about national security.